Support for older versions of Internet Explorer ends on 12 January 2016
Support for older versions of Internet Explorer ends on 12 January 2016
Ah! Internet Explorer what a relationship we’ve had over the years, eh? Internet Exploder we often called you. The hours of frustration working around your dodgy box model and odd quirks. While the other browsers followed the rules, you wandered off vacantly doing your own thing.
Do you remember this poster that I created for you, and hung above my desk in the web team office? It worked too… kinda.
When IE6 was finally laid to rest in 2010, Microsoft sent flowers. But your siblings weren’t much better, if I’m honest.
IE7 and IE8 had their own quirks and workarounds to learn. I had to keep calm with them too.
Things got incrementally better with IE9, IE10 and finally IE11 (released in October and November 2013). But by that point I rarely visited you. I was hanging out mostly with Chrome, and Firefox and Opera.
Well… those days are almost over. Web developers and designers around the globe will be celebrating: Microsoft recently announced that beginning on Tuesday 12 January 2016 they will only be supporting “the most current version of Internet Explorer for a supported operating system”.
That means Microsoft will only be supporting Internet Explorer 11 (available for Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1) and Microsoft Edge for Windows 10. Beyond mid-January Microsoft will not be provide security updates or technical support for any older versions of Internet Explorer.
I expect that we too will follow suit shortly after; currently we support IE10 and IE11.
Find out more on the Microsoft support lifecycle page.